Of Skinny Behinds and Dresses
by Cherished Tenshi
Summary: From shamelessly hitting on members of the same gender to bashing up Nightmares and barrels, there's never a dull moment in Traverse Town with these five around. A series of drabbles involving the TWEWY cast, Neku, Joshua, Shiki, Beat and Rhyme. For Infamousplot. Current chapter: Neku and Shiki go shopping together.
1. Purple or Pink?

**Title**: Of Skinny Behinds and Dresses

**Rating**: T.

**Genre**: Friendship, humour, friendship.

**Summary**: If Joshua tried to hit on him one more time, Neku would hit him out of the café window into next week. Or month. Or year. He could dream, couldn't he? A series of drabbles involving the TWEWY cast, Neku, Joshua, Shiki, Beat and Rhyme.

**Warnings**: OOC-ness, spoilers, implied sexual activities (this is Joshua, people), not-funny humour, boys hitting on other boys (in more ways than one), etc.

**Spoilers**: For The World Ends With You, everything, really, bar the Secret Reports (I think). For Dream Drop Distance, only the first visit to Traverse Town. That's pretty much in the first hour, so no spoilers?

**Characters**: Neku, Joshua and Shiki.

**A/N:** You have no idea on how much I loved writing this. Despite the fact that I've never even played TWEWY, reading a whole bunch of stories convinced me to write this for no reason at all. It may turn into a series of random drabbles, we'll see. I apologize for any spelling errors, since MY WORD BROKE AND NOW I CANNOT CHECK SPELLING AND GRAMMAR STUPID WORDPAD RAWR. Ahem. If you see any, please do let me know.

WHY IS THERE NO CHARACTER SELECTION OPTION FOR THE TWEWY CAST, OR EVEN THE NEW DISNEY CHARACTERS OF 3D. RAWR AGAIN. IF I DON'T SEE ONE IN THE NEXT WEEK, I SHALL HAVE TO REQUEST FOR THEM.

Last, but not least; Ip, if you happen to be reading this, then this is for you. ;P

Hope you all enjoy! :)

* * *

**.: of skinny behinds and dresses :.**

_"I think he prefers purple."_

* * *

"You are _far _too skinny."

"And your behind has been getting less attractive by the second, dear."

Neku rolled his eyes at Joshua, but said nothing as he took another slip of his soda. The two of them were in a small café located in a street corner of Traverse Town, night hanging in the sky over the small world. Despite the fact that the Dream Eaters had mostly been taken care of, it still looked as if they weren't getting back home any time soon. Joshua had already finished his meal of ramen while moaning his whole way through it in ways that Neku wished he could block from his mind. Neku, meanwhile, was slipping through his first can of soda, the other can remaining open but unused on the table. They were thankfully sitting away from the few other people in the café, since Joshua would have gotten arrested long ago for sexually hassling Neku if they were near any others.

Well, he could hope.

"Still attractive enough for your standards; not that you have many in the first place."

"Oh, Neku!" Joshua giggled, holding a hand to his mouth in mock surprise. The orange-haired teenager barely resisted the urge to punch his friend in the nose. "If you're that eager to undress for me, then I will-"

Neku threw the reminder of the soda at the blond youth, glaring at him. "Don't even _think _about finishing that sentence." He pointedly pulled on his huge headphones over his ears, never once taking his eyes off Joshua.

"Oh, I don't need to," Joshua whispered into Neku's ear, having lifted the headphone covering it with ease. "I know that you'll finish it for me."

"_JOSHUA!_"

A few people looked up in time to see two teenagers wrestle each other to the ground, the orange-haired one positively screaming murder at the other one. However, Joshua only smirked, and casually rested his hand high up on Neku's shorts.

"Oh, Neku, I never knew you were _that _keen to-"

"Shut. Up."

Joshua sighed in through his nose, and then giggled. "Hehe, but it's _so _much fun~"

Neku snorted, but said nothing. He pushed himself back up onto the café chair without once glancing at the blond boy. Naturally, when something light and purple-coloured suddenly propped itself onto his lap, he screamed.

"_STOP FEELING ME UP YOU-_"

"-Oh, my dear proxy," Joshua said, followed by another light giggle which drew the attention of several other people in the small café. "You really shouldn't take other people's seats. It's very impolite and selfish. I thought you had changed. Clearly not."

"Joshua," Neku began slowly, his eye twitching. "This is _my _chair. _Your _chair is over there on the opposite side of the table. You just wanted to touch me, didn't you?"

"Of _course _not~" Joshua seemed to very pointedly ignore the fact that his hand was resting beside Neku's bottom, his messy hair brushing against Neku's cheek as he laid his head on Neku's shoulder. Neku, who had gotten used to his friend's questionable habits, sighed, and leaned back in his chair.

"But on a serious note," Joshua said. He took a quick sip out of Neku's second soda, or what was left of it, before continuing. "My name _is _on the chair."

"No it isn't."

"You're sitting on it." Joshua smirked. "Care to find out?"

"N-no!"

"I just _know _you do."

"F-fine then!" Neku shoved his friend off onto the floor, who didn't look the least bit frazed by Neku's sudden movement. Glancing down, Neku's finger slowly traced over the words that were very clearly imprinted onto the base of the brown chair.

_"Ownership of Yoshiya Kiryu, or Joshua. P.S. I'm still watching your behind, and I was lying when I said it was getting less attractive."_

"_HOW THE F-_"

"Stop that, Neku," Joshua cut in with a tutting sound. "We are in an universe for children. If you swear, then even my lovely behind won't be able to save yours."

"Oh, _sure_." Neku sat back down again, humping when Joshua sat back onto his lap as soon as he sat down. "So you can hit on me all you want with your behind jokes, and it's fine, but as _soon _as I-" the teenager cut himself off with a frown.

"_Yess?_"

"-What the f-"

"_Neku_~"

"Okay, okay. But we're in a universe for children? What the h-"

"Neku." Now Joshua looked a bit cross. "What bit of _no swearing _does your pretty brain not get, dear?"

"Oh, so I can't even say _hat _now? Hat is now magically a swear word?"

"Dear, you were _not _going to say that earlier~"

"...But seriously, how come I can't swear?" Neku said, very smoothly avoiding the subject.

Joshua shrugged casually. "You are a mere human. I am a Composer. Therefore, I can do whatever I want, and you can't. Accept it. For all we know, there is some greater being out there, writing out our every movement, and this could be one more tiny, unimportant story for them."

Neku blinked a few times, slowly, and then wearily glanced to Joshua. "...Josh, did you have anything that might have made you high?"

"Hehe, of _course _not."

The bell to the cafe jiggled lightly, and then a familar redhead came through the door, a selection of colourful clothes hanging over her arm with Mr. Mew tucked safely underneath her other arm. When Shiki saw the two teenage boys in one chair together, a smirking Joshua on top of a blushing Neku, she raised an eyebrow, but only smiled.

"Hey guys! I brought some clothes to change into later! Man, Traverse Town is as busy as ever!" She sat down on the seat opposite them and laid out dark green shorts onto the table. "Do you think I should wear these instead of my skirt? I mean, they're better to move in, and my skirt tends to... you know."

"Fly up and show your panties?" Neku finished. The girl rubbed at her ear, blushing.

"Y-yeah... besides, the wind here is _way _stronger than it is in Shibuya."

"By the way, they're blue today."

Shiki pulled down the front of her skirt as much as she could. "H-hey! Stop peeking, dirty!"

"I can barely see from over Joshua's fat head!"

The boy in question turned to Neku with a smirk. "And here you were calling me skinny a few minutes ago. You really should get your eyes checked, dear."

"I am _not _your dear!"

"Shut up, dear." Another giggle.

"STOP. IT."

"You two are so weird," Shiki muttered to herself with raised eyebrows, watching as Neku slapped Joshua on the head angrily and then attempted to throttle him with his headphones. "Why I am friends with you two again, please remind me..."

"Hehe. Dear, you are doing a pathetic job in trying to tickle me."

"_DAMN IT I AM TRYING TO KILL YOU."_

"It isn't _working~_"

Neku threw down the headphones in angry defeat and pouted. When he looked up again, he found a light pink dress draped over Shiki's arm. He pointed at it. "Who's that for? You don't like pink, and Rhyme doesn't wear dresses, does she..?" He didn't even _want _to imagine Beat parading around in a dress.

"Oh, no!" Shiki laughed in a tone that was far too cheerful for Neku's liking. "That's for Joshua."

The former Player struggled for words, despite the fact that he really should have seen it coming. "W-what..?"

Joshua, of all the things, _batted his eyelashes _at Neku with yet another girlish giggle. "Oh, dear, do you prefer pink or purple?"

Neku screamed, and slammed his head against the table as hard as he could.

Shiki blinked. "I think he prefers purple."


	2. Puppy Love

**Disclaimer: **Forgot to do this, hehe. I do not own _Kingdom Hearts, The World Ends With You,_ or anything related to the two of them. I only own this series of drabbles, and ideas.

**Characters: **Neku and Joshua.

**Summary: **While taking a walk out in the dark streets of Traverse Town, Neku and Joshua encounter a stray puppy.

**A/N: **I really do enjoy writing these two too much. I swear, Beat and Rhyme and Shiki will get their chance to shine soon (the key word is 'soon' XD)! A bit short, but that's why they're called drabbles!

**Thanks: **_Infamousplot_ and _zombiecupcake'eats-you._

* * *

**.: puppy love :.**

_"Aww, he likes you!"_

* * *

"You have _got _to be kidding me."

The puppy at Neku's feet only barked loudly and wormed its way around his legs, gently rubbing its head against his bare skin. The teenager sighed and bent down softly. He scratched the brown puppy behind one of its ears, making it bark quietly in contentment. From the nearby alleyway wall, Joshua smirked.

"He likes you, dear."

"S-shut up," Neku muttered, although he could feel his ears beginning to burn; a surefire sigh that he was blushing. _Great_. Now he had to prepare for the string of insults that would no doubt come from the blond.

However, much to Neku's surprise, Joshua walked over and kneeled down to the puppy. It looked up to him with curious brown eyes, panting furiously. A look of glee flashed on Joshua's face. Neku's own face paled.

"Please, Josh," he whispered underneath his breath slowly. "Don't kill it, maim it, torture it, shoot it, or anything like that. You only look happy when you're doing one of those things. Or you smirk."

Neku closed his eyes and mentally counted to ten. When he had reached ten, he opened his eyes again, only to be greeted with the sight of the puppy tackling Joshua in the chest. Caught by surprise, the Composer fell to the ground, knocking several cans of trash and rubbish with him carelessly to the gravel. A cat leapt off in surprise, hissed at the boy, and then ran off.

"Did I mention to you that cats hate me?"

Uh, _what_?

"No," Neku said, looking to his friend at the sudden question. Joshua shrugged (or as much as he could while the dog was licking his face).

"My frequency, even in the RG, is too high for dogs to detect. However, with cats, their hearing can detect my frequency, although due to its high pitch, they tend to attack me whenever I come now."

Neku blinked. "Uh..."

"I used to own a cat, when I was alive," Joshua mused. "I ran away from home and gave it shelter. After I ki-died and went to the UG, I visited it, and it ran away from me. The next day, Sanae's van ran over it."

Neku could only stare at his friend in shock, taking in all of the information. It was so unlike Joshua to talk about his past; most of the time, whenever Neku asked, he would smoothly dodge the subject altogether, or tease Neku ("Oh, me, I never knew you wanted to get so _close_, dear.") about it before changing to something else.

Finally, he swallowed the lump blocking his throat, and nodded, more to himself than anyone else. "Shouldn't we give it a name?"

Joshua hummed in thought. "Shio."

Neku snorted. "_Shio_? _Seriously_, Josh?"

He then noticed that Joshua was stroking the animal back. It happily settled between his neck and his chest, snuggling as deep as it could into the small space. Neku smirked.

"Aww, it likes you!"

"S-shut up."

Neku could see that there was a small blush gathering on Joshua's face. Oh, man, this would make for _amazing _blackmail the next time Joshua decided to tease him for something. The great Composer of Shibuya was _blushing_.

"Do you have any name suggestions, dear?" Joshua stood up while gently cuddling the dog in his arms like a baby. He briefly glanced up at the setting sun dipping over Traverse Town, before turning his full attention to the teenager in front of him.

Neku rubbed the back of his neck. "Umm..."

"How about Shiki?" Joshua's smirk grew wider.

"H-hey!"


	3. Fireworks

**Disclaimer: **Nope.

**A/N: **Thanks to _Infamousplot _and_ littleking9512 _for reviewing! I think that Neku and Shiki are OOC in this; I've never actually played TWEWY, so I wouldn't know. I have, however, done a lot of research into it. The characters may be completely different in the game. I wouldn't know.

Hope you all enjoy! :)

**Warning: **Possible OOC-ness, slight Neku/Shiki, foreshadowing, and spoilers (I think).

* * *

**.: of skinny behinds and dresses :.**

_"I've heard the fireworks are on tonight!"_

* * *

It's peaceful up here, on top of the white tower that overlooks the Fourth District of Traverse Town. Neku thinks that it's the tallest place in the whole World; he's yet to find something higher up that he can sit on. It allows his mind to calm down, allows him to think over things. Life, and all of that stuff. It's what he tends to do when he's alone. No doubt the others are looking for him; he slipped out in the middle of their conversation of the café. No one seemed to notice him leave; well, maybe Joshua did, but Joshua notices _everything_.

The Spirit beside him gently purrs and rubs its head against his leg. Smiling slightly, Neku strokes it behind the ears, which makes it purr louder. He gazes back out, deep blue eyes taking in the buildings that are all at his feet.

Someone lands beside him gently. Neku doesn't need to look up to see who it is. "Hey, Shiki."

"What are you doing all the way up here by yourself?" she asks, sitting down beside him on the edge of the tower. Neku lies down on the ground, his hands behind his head. Shiki soon follows with a smile on her face. "Beat's been freaking out trying to find you, Rhyme's worried, and Joshua's... you know, Joshua."

Neku's Spirit cuddles up against her arm. She smiled and strokes the top of its head lovingly, watching Neku. He doesn't doubt that she's waiting for him to answer.

"I..." What exactly can he say? He doesn't want to tell her that he's started to suspect that they might not be real at all, but... "We're in the Realm of Dreams, right?"

Shiki blinks, confused, and then nods slowly. "Yeah. At least, that's what Riku told me. Why?"

"It's just..." he sits up straight, knees pulled up to his chest as he refuses to look at Shiki. He can't. He won't. "...What if... what if we're dreams, too? What if when this World's 'freed', or something like that, we'll all just... disappear?"

Just as he expected, Shiki sits up with wide brown eyes. She stares at Neku in a mixture of shock and disbelief for a few seconds, before she resolvely shakes her head. "We're real. We're living, we're breathing, we're _feeling_... there's no way all of that can be false. We're alive, I just _know _we are."

"But what if we're not?" Neku presses. "What if we _think _we're feeling, and living, and breathing, but we're not? We're just dreams, and... when this World's freed... we'll..."

"Don't say that!" Shiki shouts. Neku looks at her, surprised; she never loses her temper like that. "We have to be real. And... even if we're not, we're still here. It doesn't matter how we were born, or created; what matters is that we live our lives to the fullest. We've only got one life after all. Even if we _are _only dreams, we need to make the most of them. It's still a life."

Neku nods slowly. "Yeah..." She is _so _sappy, but... he doesn't really mind.

"What made you _think _all of that, anyway?" Shiki asks. She's more relaxed now, her hand casually resting on Neku's own. He makes no movement to move it off. "It's not like you to be depressing like that. Quiet, yeah, but _depressing_?"

Neku shrugs his shoulders. "I was pretty depressing when we first met, wasn't I?"

Shiki laughs. "Yeah, I know! But... you're a good person."

"Thanks."

They sit like that underneath the stars for a while, for a few minutes before Beat comes charging up to them and smashes Neku over the head for making him worry, yo? He then wipes at his eyes, insisting that he just got something in them again. It isn't the first time.

Rhyme and Joshua soon follow, their own Spirits bouncing along behind them as they come into the small tower. Rhyme hugs Neku and then demands that he tells them where he's going in the future in her quiet voice, while Joshua just stands there with his arms crossed, although Neku can see in his eyes that he was worried as well.

"Sorry, guys."

"_Damn right_!" Beat yells, shaking his head furiously like a child. "I had to put up with Prissy there-" He points to an irriated Joshua. "-While Rhyme went off looking for ya! Don't do that _again!_"

"Oh, go on," Neku teases. "Josh isn't _that _awful company, is he?"

"_Agh!_ He's a prick, jerk, idiot, moron, prissy-"

"-I think we get the message," Joshua says in a deadpan tone. "Let's return to the hotel."

Rhyme shakes her head. "Let's stay out here for a while. The stars are out. It's rare to see."

"But-"

"-We're staying here," Neku announces loudly with a grin. "Everyone, grab a seat! I've heard the fireworks are on tonight!"

Shiki quickly sits down beside Neku on one side, while Beat takes the other. Rhyme sits beside her blond brother with a smile, while Joshua uncertainly sits beside Shiki with a sigh.

And when the fireworks finally explode brilliantly in the black sky, Neku can't help holding Shiki's hand.


	4. Memories

**A/N: **Thank you to _Infamousplot, Guest _and _littleking9512 _for the reviews! :)

I had a Rhyme-centric bunnie, and was all ready to write it out... but researching 3D further kind of made that bunnie wrecked, since it was about Rhyme's reaction to her Spirit (which was a flying squirrel), but apparently, she doesn't have her memories in 3D. Oops. But I really, really, _really _wanted to write something involving Beat and Rhyme, since I have been ignoring them in favour of Neku and Josh and Shiki. I'm sorry, guys; I'll pay more attention to you in the future, 'kay?

Hope you all enjoy! I apologise for any OOC-ness; again, I do not own the Game *Shot*, or watched the playthrough. XD

Finally, TWEWY players; can you catch the Another Day references? They're pretty easy to find. ;P

**Warnings: **Spoilers for the first week in TWEWY.

* * *

**.: of skinny behinds and dresses :.**

_"...That you're the best brother that anyone could ever ask for."_

* * *

"Do you ever think I'll have my memories back?"

Rhyme bit her lip nervously as Beat looked at his younger sister. The two of them were currently sitting on top of the infamous Fifth District rooftop (infamous thanks to a certain incident which resulted in Neku landing on top of Joshua and Shiki squealing her head off), alone. The others were... well, Rhyme wasn't sure. She had no doubt that Shiki had managed to drag poor Neku off yet again to the shops. As for Joshua... well, he was Joshua. She didn't have a clue on what he might be doing.

"I mean..." she continued when Beat didn't answer her. "I'll live without my memories; I already am, after all, but... it would be nice."

"To remember everythin' about Shibuya?" Beat asked, trying to pull the black beanie hat on his head tighter down. Rhyme smiled, and reached up to pull it down for him. He flashed a quick smile of thanks as she sat back down again, looking up at the stars.

"Yes. When you and the others talk about the different places, like Pork City, or the 104 building, or even the WildKat café, I can't help but feel left out a little." She looked back down again, cupping her hands gently together as she gazed at them.

"Yeah." Beat patted her kindly on her shoulder, smiling. "I wish you would as well, yo. Sorry for mentioning them without thinkin' 'bout you. Just got a bit carried away, you know?"

Rhyme looked back up to her brother with a warm smile. "Thank you, and it's fine. I shouldn't hold you back from your memories. It's not fair. But the curious thing is, I can't help but believe that I've seen Traverse Town before."

Beat's smile vanished, replaced with a frown. "Huh? But- that's impossible, yo. When we... died." He looked down at the water lapping gently below their feet. "...We went to the UG; the Underground. The only time I can think of is when you became a Noise, but-"

Ah, Noise. She wished that she could remember what that had been like, as well. Even the bad memories, as well as the good ones. She was certain that she had good memories, no, _fantastic _memories, but the bad ones helped to shape a person. She wanted to remember them as well.

"-Mr. H tied me to a pin, didn't he? So... I couldn't have come here during that time, perhaps? Maybe it was my Imagination, or Soul?" She still had a hard time wrapping her head around those strange terms, despite how often Neku and the others would explain it to her.

"Nah. I may not know much, yo, but I'm certain that your Soul was tied to the pin, you know? And I don't think that Imagination can exactly see much. You get what I mean?"

"...I suppose..." Still, Rhyme couldn't shake the feeling that she had been here before.

"Don't worry 'bout it!" He slapped her firmly on the back. Gasping in surprise, the blonde looked up to the teenager as he continued. "Yeah, sure, you may not remember anything, but you have to live life for today, for yourself! There's no use in fretting about the past, or worryin' over the future."

"You're right." Rhyme hugged him tightly, taking in his scent of sweat and oil with a heavy sigh. She felt something wet drip against the top of her head, and she couldn't help the small laugh. "Beat, are you crying again?"

"N-_never_!" he cried loudly, but Rhyme could hear him wiping his face with his hand as she broke free of the warm embrace. She took out a tissue out of her pocket and gently wiped away the tell-tale wet liquid on his face. "I-I wasn't crying; I'm just glad that you're alright, yo!"

She smiled. "You don't have to hide the truth from me. After all, I'm your sister, correct?"

This only sent him into more howling tears as he frantically wiped them away with his wrist, all the while sniffing madly. Rhyme sighed and closed her eyes, smiling.

"You really are a gentle person at heart, aren't you?"

"W-what's _that _s-supposed to mean!"

"...That you're the best brother that anyone could ever ask for."

* * *

Shiki squealed and snapped some more photos on her phone as the two people nearby hugged each other tightly. Neku sighed.

"Shiki, should you _really _be taking pictures of Rhyme and Beat hugging?"

"It's _adorable_!" She said with a loud coo as she viewed the photos on her phone. "I mean, just _look _at them!"

"All _I'm _seeing is a dopey daddy bear and his quiet, forgetful little sister."

Shiki frowned at him, waving her finger about. Even Mr. Mew, who was tucked safely under one of her arms, seemed to waggle his finger at him as well. "You need to look on the bright side of life, Neku! Think of all the sunshine, Blue!"

"_Blue_!"

"Oops." She giggled. "Inside joke."

"W-_WHAT!_"

"_Sshhh!_" She clamped a hand over his mouth. "Stay quiet while I take more photos, or else I'll make Mr. Mew sit on you." She removed her hand again to take more photos on her pink phone. "I need to recharge this thing soon..."

"Wow, scary." Neku muttered dryly. "I'm shaking in my boots, Shiki."

"You should be!"

"...I was joking."

"_Pfftt_!" Shiki snorted as her phone suddenly died on her with a gentle beep. She put it away in her brown poach and put her hands on her hips, thinking. "I _knew _that I should have picked Pink, but oh no, Joshua goes ahead and claims it for himself, doesn't he? And then he wants _Rainbow.._? 'Dibs on the rainbow' my ass..."

Neku blinked for a few seconds as he tried and failed to take in what Shiki was saying. Pink? _Rainbow_? And what did _Joshua _have to do with it? Okay, so his taste in things was... questionable, to say the least, but _pink_? "What are you talking about?"

"_Nothing~_"

She sounded _way _too much like him for Neku's liking. Rolling his eyes, he turned around. "Come on. Let's leave them alone."

"But-"

"-Your phone's dead."

Shiki pouted. "Way to ruin it, spoilsport."

"That's me, down to a T."

Neku could audibly hear Shiki blink in confusion, followed by a short hmm. "But... spoilsport begins with S, doesn't it?"

Slapping his forehead, the orange-haired teenager walked on ahead, pulling his massive purple headphones over his ears. "You have been spending _way _too much time with Beat and Joshua."

"H-hey, wait!" Shiki cried out after him, following him with a sprint. "Fight those emo urges!"

"..._What _emo urges?"


	5. Nightmare

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1.

**A/N: **Wow! I got _far _more reviews that what I was hoping for. Thank you so much to _zombiecupcake'eats-you, Infamousplot, LittleKing9512 _and _kilala2tail _for reviewing! :)

I have _no _idea about how the last part of this chapter came about. It was just the first thing that came into my mind... I do hope that I wrote everyone okay, and not too OOC. Hehe...

LET THE ANGST BEGIN, YAY.

**Spoilers: **For the whole game, bar Another Day and the Secret Reports. You have been _warned_~

* * *

**.: of skinny behinds and dresses :.**

_"Okay, who are you and what have you done with Beat?"_

* * *

"I miss my pins!" Neku shouted, ducking a blast from a Nightmare as he latched onto the pole nearby. Bouncing off it, he kicked away two particularly pesky Dream Eaters in a flash of bright purple sparks. He landed back down, just as Mr. Mew leapt over his head and clawed wildly at a yellow, panda-like Nightmare that had been sneaking up behind him.

Shiki nodded, running over to pick up Mr. Mew and deal out a kick to a small, black Nightmare with pink stripes and beady red eyes. "Trust me, you're not the only one!"

"Where's the others when you need them?" Neku shouted back as he leapt high into the air, having used the wall nearby for help. He crashed down on top of a small group of the colourful creatures, and they all vanished in yelps of surprise. He felt a bit bad for them upon hearing their shouts of pain, but he tried to shrug it off.

"They're probably dealing with their own! Now, come on, Neku! We can take care of them by ourselves. We're almost there!"

Taking a look around him revealed that there were only a few left, and no Shiki. Just as he was about to shout for her, the barrel behind him suddenly shot high into the air. It landed with a small explosion, wiping out the rest of the Nightmares with ease. Shiki reappeared from the ground with a grin, casually wiping off some invisible dirt on her green skirt. She looked up to the teenager, Mr. Mew tucked under her arm for safety.

"Oops. Should have left a few for you, shouldn't I?"

Neku grinned and shook his head. Count on Shiki to get rid of them all in a blink of an eye, and with Reality Shift, no less. He still hadn't gotten the hang of it yet; he could use Flowmotion far better than Shiki, but she was amazing with Reality Shift, and all things barrel-related. "Hey, we got them all, right? That's all that matt-uh, Shiki?"

He spoke the last part since Shiki was dreamily staring at some clothes that were in a shop window nearby. Waving a hand in front of her face, he then poked her side when he didn't get an answer. "Uh, Shiki-"

"-They're so _cute_!" she cooed, looking at a small costume with rabbit ears and a small tail.

Yes, they were, but Neku wasn't going to admit that. "Uh, we have to-"

"-Yo! Neku, Shiki!"

Beat came running up to them in a hurry, feet barely touching the ground as he pounded up to them. He put his hands on his knees, panting, as the two looked at him.

"Is everything alright?" Shiki asked curiously, her head tilted slightly to the side. "You were in quite a hurry..."

"We've got trouble!" he shouted, standing up to his full height again. "Rhyme managed to find the big boss, or something. It's at the top of the roof in the Fifth District."

"She's by herself?" Shiki asked worryingly. "Will she be-"

"-She'll be fine, yo," Beat said as he waved off the question. "Prissy boy's with her."

Neku and Shiki exchanged looks, then looked back at Beat, concerned.

"Okay, who are you and what have you done with Beat?" Neku demanded, hands on hips.

Beat blinked. "Huh?"

Shiki minicked Neku's movement, and Mr. Mew soon followed her. It was quite comical, having the two teenagers and stuffed teddy bear all looking at him like that. "The Beat _we _know wouldn't leave Rhyme with Joshua if her life depended on it."

"Why is her-"

"It's an _expression_!" Shiki shouted.

"Besides, I thought you hated Josh," Neku said thoughtfully. His arms were now crossed. "It sure seems that way."

"...Let's just go and find them!" Beat declared hurryingly. He took off towards the door to the Fifth District, smashing up any Nightmares that were unfortunate enough to come near him.

Shiki smiled as the two of them took off running after them. "So Beat _does _like him."

Neku grimanced. "I don't think he _likes _him. Probably _trusts _him, like I do, but doesn't actually, you know, _want _to be near him."

Much to his surprise, the teenager only laughed as she pushed open the large doors. "Oh, you boys have it _so _wrong."

"Huh?"

"Come on, Blue!" Shiki laughed again.

"_WHO IS BLUE!_"

* * *

"What Dream Eater?"

"What 'big boss'?" Neku said, blinking slowly as he took in the scene in front of him. Shiki was in a similar state of shock to him. As soon as they had sprinted onto the glass rooftops, they had found Rhyme casually drawing random patterns in the ground, Beat freaking out while glomping his sister, and Joshua was playing around on his phone again.

"_What _Nightmare?" Shiki asked.

"Joshua got rid of it in one move," Rhyme explained brightly, looking up as the others approached her. Beat let go of her with a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of his head before looking at his little sister."Just as soon as Beat left, actually."

Beat's eye twitched as he slowly turned to the teenager, who either hadn't noticed them yet, or just didn't care. Neku was willing to bet on the latter. "E-_excuse _me? Pretty Boy, I-"

"-I couldn't have too many people around me," Joshua said dismissively as he put his phone away and stood up. "With the attack I used, there would have been a high chance that you would have been hit. It has a very wide area in front of me."

"So how did Rhyme dodge it then, eh?"

"She got behind me. I'm glad to see that the Bito genes have _some _cleverness in them."

"Damn right!" Beat punched his fist into the air, but then let it fall, his face frowning in confusion. "Hey, then how come _I _couldn't have dodged it, yo?"

Joshua sighed as he put a hand to his face, although Neku could see a tiny smirk on his face. "I did say _some_, not all."

"But-"

"-And besides, assistance is always appreciated. After all, the attack could have gone wrong."

Beat let the matter drop, but he still required Joshua with a suspicious look as Neku walked up to him and crossed his arms. "_How_, exactly? You're the Composer-"

"-Of Shibuya," Joshua cut in sharply, with a sideways glare at the younger teen. "I may still have my powers, but they are greatly weakened. Of course, I'm still _far _better than you, dear, but that's beside the point."

Neku clenched his fists tightly at his sides. "Do you _want _to repeat that?"

Joshua sighed. "It's not my fault if you weren't listening. Now, shut up and walk."

"You can't tell me what to do! Imprinting doesn't work here, so ha!"

"_Please_. I had that figured out about five seconds after we arrived here."

"Oh, sure, so you weren't kind enough to share it with the rest of us, huh?"

Shiki, sensing that an argument was about to begin, quickly stepped in between the two of them and pushed them away from each other gently. "Come on, you two, cut it out. Neku, let's just listen to Joshua and-"

"-I am _not _listening to that pathetic prick who spends all day stalking me, making fun of me, making death threats, _sitting _on me-"

Joshua clapped sarcastically. "Well done. You know alliterative words. It's better than your choice of insults. You should take some lessons from Sho about insulting others."

"Do you _ever _listen to me, you-"

"-I can't _hear _you~"

That was enough to make Neku snap. With a furious roar, he pushed back a shocked Shiki and hit Joshua to the ground. A flash of surprise was on the Composer's face, but he quickly smirked and made a sickly cooing noise. "Aww, _Neku_-"

"-_DON'T YOU DARE FINISH THAT SENTENCE!_" Neku roared angrily. He punched Joshua's shoulder, lost in his anger. That bitchy, whining, jerk who killed him _twice _and _gah!_ He continued to pound his fists on an unfazed Joshua's chest. "It's _no wonder _that Shibuya was destroyed with _you_ around! You were probably busy whining to Mr. H about how unfair it is and _laughed _when the Heartless attacked and-"

Joshua's eyes flashed dangerously. "_Excuse _me?"

"You _heard _me you backstabbing bastard!"

"Neku! Joshua!" Rhyme tried to pull Neku off from the top of the other boy. "Neku, stop it, _please_! Can you hear yourself?"

Both Beat and Shiki helped Rhyme to pull up Neku onto his feet. He stood there, seething with shaking fists, until suddenly his eyes widened. His hands fell to his side. D-did he really just say all of that? He didn't mean to... he didn't like Joshua that much, but... they were similar, in some ways. He didn't mean it! He didn't! "N-no... I... Josh-"

"-I see how it is," Joshua replied icily as he stood up, not looking at the others. "If you think that little of me, then I see no reason to stay here any longer."

"Josh, _please_-"

"-It is _Joshua_. Do you think I _wanted _Shibuya to be destroyed? You think I _wanted _to hear the city scream in pain, the suffering of everyone ringing in my ears, while I was powerless to stop it?"

"I-"

"-I would say it was nice knowing you, but then I would be lying."

With that, he disappeared in a flash of light, leaving the others with nothing but the harsh wind blowing around their faces.


	6. So Close, Yet So Far

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1, folks.

**Thank you** to _zombiecupcake'eats-you, LittleKing9512, Infamousplot, bookgirl111 _and _Inita _for reviewing!

**A/N: **SO sorry for the wait! I swear, I had a Mr. H/Neku/Joshua friendship chapter fully typed out and ready to publish, but then Word _froze on me when I tried to save it. _The bisch. I threw a huff for a while, before I realized that I should stop moaning and just update this.

Short chapter is short, yay. It's a break from the usual stuff, but I hope you all still enjoy it! :)

**Spoilers: **For the first week and third week. Maybe second. Also, for the first time visit to Traverse Town.

* * *

**.: of skinny behinds and dresses :.**

"_...My ribcage?"_

* * *

Shiki clutched Mr. Mew tighter to her chest as she pushed open the large, ominous doors of the Fourth District, making her way out of the Fifth District. Her feet were soaking from having ran in the water, but that was the least of her worries right now. She had seen Neku. And... and she couldn't _touch _him! She had been right in front of him, but he acted as if she wasn't even _there_! It stung, reminding her of the Reapers' Game in the first week, where Neku had insisted on calling her 'Stalker', despite the fact that Shiki was both shorter _and _easier to say! He had barely acknowledged her there, and here... it wasn't any better. Neku couldn't help it, but...!

She felt like crying at that moment. Why did everything cruel happen to them? Why couldn't life just be simple and clean, for once? The five of them were becoming close; she had patched up her jealously with Eri... why did they have to end up here? It wasn't _fair_! What had even _happened _to Shibuya? Every time she had asked Joshua about it, he skipped the subject completely or changed the topic to something else.

But it was quickly apparent that someone was worse off than her. A certain someone who had seen his treasured little sister right in front of him, and despite his best efforts, completely unable to reach her.

Speaking of Beat, why was he on the ground with his head down?

"What's wrong?" Shiki asked curiously, her head tilted to the side, long red hair falling over her brown eyes as she looked at Beat.

He startled, looking up at her with a cautious look in his blue eyes, before he sighed. Shaking his head slowly, Beat pointed towards the open doors. Shiki followed his gaze, and she could see Riku and his friend – Sora, he had said? – talking to Joshua, although she couldn't make out their words. "T-_that! _After Prissy Number Two-"

"-Riku," Shiki corrected with a small smile at the thought of the silver-haired boy. He had reminded her of Neku a little, but got embarrassed _way _easier. It was fun teasing him, even if he did refuse to come with her into any shops, claiming that he was in a hurry. Of course, that hurry _didn't _include him spending over an hour playing Flick Rush.

Beat frowned and pulled at his beanie hat, irritated. "Ah, _whatever! _Rhyme was... y'know, right _next to me_, and I couldn't touch her! I-it was like... I wasn't even _there_, damn it!" All of the energy seemed to drain out of him as he sighed. "I just want to see her again... she's my lil' sis. I _miss _her."

Shiki sat down beside him and sighed, twirling a strand of her long red hair absent-mindedly around her finger. What was she meant to say? She was just as upset and confused as he was... not to mention that their Timers were _still _ticking down, each second reminding her that they were ever closer to being Erasured. It would _really _help if any of them knew what their mission actually _was_! It was annoying, and cruel, but they had to keep going. Nothing could be worse than _those _Reapers' Games, could it?

But still, having all of them together would be a great comfort, and help. She missed them all. She really did. Was Eri even...

She didn't dare finish the thought. She had to be. There was no other option.

"I..." She bit her lip, refusing to meet Beat's curious gaze. "I miss them. Neku and Rhyme. I wish that Traverse Town would be back to normal."

"I wish we'd go _home_, damn," Beat whispered, resting a heavy hand on her shoulder. "But as long as we've got each other, we'll be alright, you know?" When Shiki looked up to him and gently rested her hand on top of his, he blushed slightly, but quickly turned his head and looked at the wall. "Still can't believe I fell for that _bastard._"

"That man? Why? What did you make you do?" Did he manage to trick _all _of them into doing his bidding... well, why would he have wanted Riku in the first place? Sure, he was an outsider, but they _all _were.

Beat rested his head on his arms, sighing again. "He said that if I brought Prissy to him, he'd take Rhyme and me home. Back to Shibuya. And when I sliced them Dream Eaters on him, they went after Prissy Number Two instead!"

Shiki didn't bother to correct his grammar, too curious by what he had said. "Joshua? What would he have wanted with him?"

"Hell if _I _know. Something about all of that Composer crap and stuff, I 'pose."

"But he's not in-"

"-Again, ain't got a clue." Beat stood up and sighed. "I'm gonna head to the hangout and grab something to drink. You comin'?"

Well, it wasn't like they could do anything else. Shiki smiled her best smile (although it felt fake) and took the hand that Beat had offered. He really could be a true gentleman sometimes, that giant softie.

"You know..." Shiki looped her arm through his muscular one as they began to walk. Beat didn't try to shake it off. "You're like a big teddy bear."

"_Bwah!_" He nearly leapt back in surprise, but Shiki's arm stopped him. Instead, he scratched his head and looked at the younger teen. "Where did _that _come from!?"

She poked playfully at his chest with her free hand, smiling. "There."

"...My ribcage?"

For someone as observant as Beat (on very rare occasions), he really was quite dorky. Even more so than Neku. And Neku could be dorky.

Shiki only smiled wider and dragged Beat along with her. There was no point worrying over Neku and Rhyme; they would be fine. As long as they stuck next to each other, and they had their own 'knight in shining armour', then they would be safe.

It was with this thought in mind that Shiki passed on through Traverse Town, Beat complaining to her off her arm.


	7. Running in Circles

**Disclaimer: **See chapter, uh, 3?

**Thank you **to _LittleKing9512, PMiller1 _and _sweet pandemonium _for reviewing!

**A/N: **...Wow, man. I was _not _expecting this tiny little thing to get so much attention, honestly! :O Thank you all so, so much for all of your support; special thanks to everything who's added this to their favourites, alerts, reviewed, or a mixture. You all rock so much! :)

Ip (aka _Infamousplot_) requested some humourous Joshua/Beat interaction, since she completely adores the relationship between these two, and Beat needed more love (as well as Rhyme, so she'll likely be in the next chapter), so why not? I tried girl, I really did, I swear, but the angst crept in, as usual. Please don't shoot me. *Ducks*

**Warnings: **Can we please just assume that all future chapters have spoilers for the whole of TWEWY? No? Poop. Also, the author cannot write Beat Speak to save her life, yo? And Riku makes a brief, useless, sleeping appearance with one line straight from the game, yay!

**P.S **If you have 3D, just _count _the amount of times that Riku says "_What!?_". It's quite hilarious, really; I lost count after seven.

* * *

**.: of skinny behinds and dresses :.**

"_You're lookin' up at the moment, right?"_

* * *

"I just wanna protect the one person who matters..." Beat said sullenly, his head resting on the palm of his hand as he gazed at no one in particular. Joshua, who was standing beside him, hummed thoughtfully, but said nothing. From below them, Riku, or as Beat so fondly named him, Prissy Number Two, nodded with a small smile. It looked kind of jarring, especially given his "_What!?" _expression earlier on when Beat's Spirits had attacked _him_ instead of the _other _Prissy, who _giggled _in response.

"I know the feeling." He nodded, and then, the next thing Beat knew, he was _sleeping on the ground!_ His head had thumped painfully against the gravel, his whole body unmoving. The blond leapt up from the stone railing, gaping at Riku like a goldfish. Beat was ready to jump down, to go and kick some serious sense into the grey-haired kid (because what freak _fell asleep in mid-air!?_), but Joshua clamped a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Leave him be."

Beat turned to the younger (older?) boy in disbelief, eyes wide. He... he was suggesting that they just _leave _him there! But what if the Nightmares got him!? "Are you _blind_, yo? What 'bout the Nightmares?"

Joshua sighed as if he had explained this particular case plenty of times before, and didn't feel like explaining it yet again. "He's finished his mission for the day. His Partner, Sora, should also be resting."

Blink. "But how come he gots a different mission from the rest of us, eh?"

"He doesn't come from Shibuya."

"He didn't have a timer, man."

"His mission was already _finished. _It was to form a pact and come to the Second District."

Beat turned back to the sleeping teenager, giving him a long look over. How many people had _grey _hair..? He sensed that Joshua was lying to him, _again,_ but he really wasn't in the mood for playing games. "I'm not tha' stupid, man."

Joshua looked away, but Beat could see the faint traces of _that _damn smirk on his face. "Then how come I run circles around you on a daily basis?"

Aha, Beat had him now! "That's 'cause you _don't_, man! You can't run round me! I'd flatten ya in no time, yo!"

Joshua walked past him without even commenting, although he did snigger quite loudly. Beat turned to look at him. What did he say now? Joshua _couldn't _run circles around him; he would be able to pick him up and carry him off with ease! 'Sides, Joshua was slower than Neku whenever Shiki dragged him off to do shopping with Eri, and _that _was slow. The thought of home made his heart twist a little. "Hey! Where you're goin'!?"

"...I have places to be," Joshua said mysteriously, flipping open his large orange phone before sighing and flipping it back closed again. "You go off and do whatever it is that 'tough guys' do. Sit and brood in the corner, break your bones skateboarding, angst over missing little sisters' not like I care."

"What it is that- _hey!_ I ain't a tough guy; I'm me!" Beat shouted over the top of Joshua's badly hidden snickers.

"You tell yourself that, Daisukenojo Bito."

"_BWAH! Don't call me that!" _More importantly, how the hell could he _pronounce it?_

* * *

"You _still _waiting for him?"

Joshua looked surprised for a second as Beat plunked down beside him on the top of the white tower in the Fourth District, but it was replaced with his usual coldness so smoothly that Beat could have almost sworn that it had never happened. However, the key word was almost.

"Whatever gave you such a childish notation?" He turned back out to the night sky. Beat noted that there was only one star shining at the moment.

Beat shrugged. His warm shoulder rubbed against Joshua's cold one as he did so. "I dunno. You always come out here wheneva ya look down." When Joshua didn't answer, only continuing to gaze outwards, Beat sighed. He was _awful _at trying to comfort people, always falling flat on his face, much less with people he didn't even _like_... that much. But he was a friend of Neku's, so that meant that he had to try at the least. "You've been lookin' down a lot lately. Neku's worried."

"I have _not _been looking down, you idiot."

Even Beat was smart enough to note that Joshua was in a foul mood at the moment. "H-hey, of course not! You're lookin' _up _at the moment, right? If you looked down, then you'd be off here 'fore I could catch ya."

"..._Would _you catch me?" When Beat gave him a confused look, head cocked to the side, beanie hat falling over his eyes (he quickly pulled it back up), Joshua sighed. "If I fell?"

Way to be confusing; but wasn't the answer _obvious_? "Of _course_, man!"

"But-"

And here was Miserable Prissy in full force. This side of Joshua had been coming out a lot more lately; maybe it had something to do with Shibuya being destroyed? Or maybe this was how he always was, really (so much for _Beat _being the one who played the tough guy '24/7'). Either way, Beat didn't like it one bit. "-Any friend of Neku's my friend too, yo! 'Sides, Shiki likes ya too, and... I dunno 'bout Rhyme, but you didn't have to bring her back, you know?"

Beat hadn't been able to quite believe it at first, because she had been _Noise _for three freakin' weeks, nothing more than a Soul attached to a pin, saved by sheer luck and a man who was so much more than his appearance suggested. The next thing that he knew... she was _smiling _at him as she helped him up off his feet, all alive and well and... and... he wiped the salty tears from his eyes, looking away. "...Thanks, man. She's everything to me, you know."

It seemed like forever in the tense silence until Joshua finally spoke, "...I know. I know all too well."

"And _I _know tha you're waiting for that CAT dude to show up-" He ignored Joshua's wince as he swung a muscular arm around his shoulder. "-But would he want ya to be moping about like Pi-Face, or Pinky when she ain't movin' up the ranks? Or... eh; I don't know what pushes Lollipop's buttons, man, but when Mr. H's goin' to see ya again, he won't want you acting like Phones! Am I right, or am I right?"

Joshua tried to move away from Beat's arm, but the blond's firm gripe as he continued to blabber on made it impossible. With a sigh, he looked down and kicked his shoe against the tower wall. Beat stopped suddenly, gazing at Joshua intensely, making the smaller boy eventually answer.

"...Yes. I suppose you're right."

"I _know _I'm right!" He thumped his free fist high into the air, grinning. "Now, you wanna grab some curry?"

"I prefer-"

"-_Shio ramen. _Sheesh, Prissy, I'm not _tha _dumb."

Despite the suffocating arm around his neck, the dim future ahead, and the uncertain past not so far behind, Joshua couldn't help but smile.


	8. Falling In

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 3.

**A/N: **Oh my Josh, I have _nineteen _alerts for this! *Dies* Thank you so much to _sweet pandamonium, LittleKing9512, PMiller1, Mirae-no-Sekai, Infamousplot, Do a Barrel Roll, neku's brother, Tsuha-chan _AND _yavin4 _for the amazing reviews! So many! I hope I can continue to live up to your expections!

*Dies again*

Uh... hope you all enjoy! This takes place a while after 3D, and has much of my headcanon.

Oh! Also, I've been working on two TWEWY fics that are now published (_Life's Little Crossroads _and _Post Mortem, Antequem Vita_), so if you like this, drop on by? ;)

* * *

**.: of skinny behinds and dresses :.**

"_If this is about the coffee machine, I'm sorry_ _that it keeps on exploding in your face."_

* * *

"Ah!" Shiki shouted as she toppled over and fell into the large fountain behind her. Neku leapt out of the way of a Dream Eater's powerful horn, landing on the yellow ledge of the same fountain that Shiki had just fallen in. She sat back up again, spitting out water in disgust. "Augh!"

"What is it with you and fountains?" Neku exclaimed in between his pants. Damn it! There were too many of them... and this time, he doubted that Sora would come charging in to save the day with his goofy, carefree grin and massive hair. That had been months ago, after all. "Stop _falling _in them!"

"It would help if they would, I dunno, _stop knocking me into them!_" She tried to stand back up again, only for her wet boots to slip against the surface and making her hit the ground again. "_Ugh!"_

"That was your own fault," Neku said with a small smirk. Shiki tried to glare at him, but combined with the pout, it didn't look nearly as serious.

"S-shut up! These are _Eri's _boots, so it isn't my fault!"

How could he have forgotten? "Well, yeah, I know, but-"

"-_Lovebirds_," chided a familiar voice from above. Neku looked up to see a beam of white light crash down on a sheep Nightmare. It baaed loudly before toppling over. "It would help if you would save the lover's quarrel for the bedroom and finish the mission~"

"_Josh!"_ The boy in question only smirked and landed beside Neku, his familiar orange phone out in his hand. Neku groaned at that; did he go anywhere _without _the blasted thing? "Do you _really _need that phone?"

"We're not in Shibuya. As much as I would love to, I would collapse if I went about beaming all of these Nightmares, especially without my psych. I don't have my powers, remember?"

"And you collapsing is a _bad _thing?" Neku asked, eyebrow raised. Joshua shrugged.

"Well, you'll have to drag me back, of course. Ideally into your bedroom to-"

Neku smacked the boy in the chest, catching the blond off by surprise and nearly making him stumble into the fountain. "-Don't you _dare _finish that sentence!"

"So you _do _have it for Shi-"

"-_Josh!"_

Shiki finally managed to pull herself up onto the ledge of the fountain. Trying to ring out some of the water soaking down her small skirt, she settled for holding Mr. Mew underneath her arm and stood up beside Neku. "Ugh, I am _sick _of these guys! And could you two, I dunno, _not _bicker? For at least ten seconds?"

Neku gave Shiki a sideways glance, his attention still focused on the Nightmares that were creeping ever-closer. "Shiki, the day that happens is the day the world ends."

"Already happened," Joshua stated in a bored tone. He sent down another beam of light to eliminate a group of pink bats that had been gliding towards them, fangs outstretched. "Not a day I exactly wish to recreate, mind you." He looked away from the others, staring at nothing in particular.

"Shut. Up," Neku hissed, both at Joshua and at the mention of Shibuya. He took out a small pin with a blue elephant on it and sent it out. A large black hole suddenly opened up above the Nightmares, dragging many of them into its abyss. When it shut after a few seconds, he flicked the pin in his hand and pinned it to his shirt.

"_Please!_" Shiki stomped her foot angrily. She threw out Mr. Mew into the crowd of enemies. "Save your lover's quarrel for the bedroom!"

Both of the boys' heads snapped in her direction like a whip. Neku's eyes grew wide. "E-excuse me!?"

Joshua smirked. "You see, Neku, it's _that _painfully obvious that you-"

Neku shoved Joshua in the chest angrily, cutting the other teen off. "-Need to shut the hell up!"

Joshua managed to recover his balance in time, and planted his trademark smirk back onto his face. "_You_ need to work out more."

Neither of them noticed the large sheep that was crawling up towards them, separate from the other Nightmares. It leapt into the air, baaed, rolled into a black ball, and shot straight towards Joshua's chest.

"_That_, coming from the world's skinniest person _ever_."

"I think, personally, that Shiki is a little-"

"_GUYS!_" Shiki shrieked, having noticed the Nightmare bolting towards Joshua. "_DUCK!"_

Neku looked around. "Huh? Where?"

"And the award for the most stupid person goes to- _AH!_"

Joshua shouted in surprise as the sheep suddenly smacked his chest and sent him flying. He hit the water loudly, sending droplets spraying down on Neku's shoes and bare legs. After a few seconds, he remerged, spitting water out of his mouth and ringing his hair furiously, trying to get as much water out as he could.

"My _hair!_"

Neku sniggered as he looked down to the pool of water and smirked. "You were saying?"

"I am going to _kill_ you," Joshua muttered darkly as he stood up, water dripping from his sleeves and collar. Neku shrugged, the smirk only growing more.

"Been there, suffered from it. Twice, actually. I'm kinda used to it, now, really."

"S-shut up!"

"Just _wait _until I tell Mr. Hanekoma about you freaking out over your _hair_."

"Don't you _dare!_"

Neku picked up Joshua's phone, which had been dropped to the pavement in the boy's blind flurry to not fall into the pool. Clicking on the first number on the speed dial, he held it up to his ear and eagerly waited for an answer.

After a few beeps, he heard a familiar voice. _"J, look; if this is about the coffee machine, I'm _sorry _that it keeps on exploding in your face, but it just doesn't-"_

Neku frowned. What coffee machine? "Hey, Mr. Hanekoma, it's Neku here. Dead kid speaking."

He could see Mr. H's eyes grow wide. "_Uh, ah... so, hey, Phones; what happened to Josh? Did he collapse again? I can count the number of times he's let someone else on his phone on one hand without the fingers."_

He smirked wider. "Well, you see, he fell into the fountain-"

"_-_Excuse_ me?"_

"Uh-huh. We found some Nightmares, and then he tried to look like a hero, but he ended up-"

"_-NEKU!" _Shiki screamed. "_JOSHUA'S-_"

Neku screamed in surprise as something suddenly yanked at his foot and pulled him backwards. His back hit the water painfully, washing over him in furious waves. He shot out a bullet, gasping for breath while Joshua laughed behind him, holding his sides and struggling to not fall back in as he gripped the side tightly.

Neku glared at him from underneath his soaking fringe, and then tackled the other boy to the ground. He caught Joshua by surprise, and they both fell into the water, kicking and punching for breath. Neku came up first, gapping like a goldfish, eyes wide. A few seconds later, Joshua jumped out, shaking his wet hair furiously, trying to get it out of his eyes.

"Oi! You two!"

Both of them looked up to a smiling Shiki, who looked as if she was smirking instead. "What is it with you and fountains?"


	9. Take Off Your Shorts!

**Disclaimer : **See chapter 3.

**A/N: **Thank you to _LittleKing9512, Do a Barrel Roll _and _Mirae-no-Sekai_ for reviewing.

Yes, I should totally be shot for writing this. I'm sorry! D: But... you know, it had to be done. Besides, I read someone complain about the lack of Sora/Shiki there was, and then I remembered the cross dressing in TWEWY...

But, really, please read this first before you decide to shoot me? But it has Sora and Riku (one of them as a main character!)...

**Warnings: **Contains cross dressing and a possible OOC-Sora. Takes place about a year after 3D? I just assume that the WEWY are still in Traverse Town, and Sora and Riku can revisit at any time...

* * *

**.: of skinny behinds and dresses :.**

_"TAKE OFF YOUR SHORTS!"_

* * *

Today _really _was not his day.

Sora stared at the red curtain in befuddlement as the third dress in as many minutes smacked on his head from outside the changing rooms. Sighing, he pulled the item of clothing off his spiky hair (he had to untangle the blue strap from a particularly stubborn piece of hair first). This time, it was an elegant, flawless white piece that fell to his ankles and hid his legs. At this, the teengaer raised an eyebrow; the last dress he had been given was a tiny yellow piece that barely deserved to be called a dress.

From outside the changing room, he could hear the red-haired girl laugh loudly. "Okay, okay, I _swear _that this is the one! Just try it on and see what it looks like, 'kay?"

How, Sora mused to himself as he yanked off a bright orange t-shirt complete with white shorts and began to pull on the dress (he was getting used to this!), he had gotten dragged into clothes shopping with _Shiki _was completely beyond him. According to her, Riku was currently being dragged off by Neku, Joshua and Beat to have some 'manly' time together. Sora now knew that 'manly' time involved smashing up every barrel that they could find, and maybe a handful of Reapers if they stumbled across them, too. Occasionally Joshua himself, if Neku felt like it.

He could hear Rhyme sigh in the changing room beside him before she pulled open her curtain. Shiki clapped her hands together in delight at whatever Rhyme was wearing, but then began to speak in hurried, hushed tones to the younger blonde. Sora fastened the thin straps on his arms uncertainly. While he had to dress up as the princess many a time when he, Riku and Kairi were kids (much to Riku's amusement, even if his long hair did suit the role better, but the muscles were far too large. _Apparently_), that was in front of people that he, well, held very dear to his heart and would die for. While he viewed Shiki and Rhyme as friends, the thought of... _cross-dressing _in front of them was pretty freaking weird.

...But Riku _had _offered to pay him ten thousand munny if he did it, and with the lack of Nightmares to bash up (apparently Mr. Hanekoma and Joshua together was enough to eliminate them all in record time), he really _did _need that munny. Kairi's birthday was coming up soon, after all... and that expensive bracelet in the Fourth District shop window looked _perfect _for her...

Sighing, Sora pulled back the large curtain and hesitantly stepped forward.

To say that Shiki looked shocked was an understatement. Rhyme, meanwhile, was blushing a very bright shade of red, and couldn't take her wide eyes off Sora. Her long red dress was beautiful, especially with her short hair. However, Shiki was far more focused on the poor boy in front of her.

"Oh my _gosh!_" Sora gasped in surprise when Shiki suddenly yanked at his arms, her small hands patting all over him. She pulled at the material more than once, and at one point, _rolled _the smooth cloth between her hands. Sora was very, very glad that he was wearing shorts. "I didn't even know that boys could _suit _white! That is so _perfect!_ Oh, if only if Neku or Josh would try this on... I mean, Josh does, but... I need someone with _straight _hair!"

The brunet in question pulled at his locks slowly. His hair was _straight?_ "Uh, you think that _this _is straight?"

"Dude, it's like a trademark or something," Shiki remarked dryly. "All of the heroes seem to have spiky hair. That's how I knew that you were a good person."

"Because of my _hair!?_"

She nodded grimly. "Because of your hair."

Uh...

Rhyme chose that moment to perk up, now sitting down on the large, blue sofa nearby. She still looked shocked at Sora's appearance, and he felt himself turning a similar kind of red to her. "Uh... Beat has straight hair?"

"Yeah, but, his _muscles!_ They kinda wreck the image a little... no, actually, they wreck it _completely_," she said, smiling. Shiki pulled at his hair, trying to get it to go down, but she frowned heavily when nothing happened. Yanking down with more force, Sora had to pull away at the sharp stabs of pain in his skull. "Why won't your hair _go down!?_ How much freaking hair gel do you _put _in it!?"

Sora put his hands over his hair protectively. The last thing he wanted was Shiki hurting it again. "Uh, it goes like naturally, I swear!"

Both of the girls gave him very dubious looks. Sora's eyes widened.

"I-I _promise_! Just ask Riku... it stays like this underwater!"

"Okay, so, I'm not even going to _ask _about how you know that works..." Shiki turned back to the collection of abandoned clothes on the sofa. Sora couldn't help but groan loudly when he saw that the massive pile was falling over the sofa arm. He could see long, sparkly scarfs, towering woolly hats... _everything _that he had ever seen anyone wear seemed to be there.

Oh _why _didn't he go with Riku?

Shiki shoved a tiny red shirt into his unwilling arms, and quickly followed it up with an even tinier skirt. Sora felt his face pale.

"Change into them!"

"But-"

She put her hands onto her hips. "They block the view."

"_What view!?" _Sora was not ashamed to say that he squeaked a little bit at the end.

"The view of your legs, dork!"

"But-"

"-TAKE OFF YOUR SHORTS!"

Shiki's sudden outburst drew the attention of the few other customers in the store, who then promptly all locked their gazes onto Sora. The worse thing was that most of them seemed to be _gleeful_.

"Seriously." She shoved him into the changing rooms. "Change, and take them _off!_"

"But-"

"-I'll say it again!"

Sora silently nodded and condemned himself to at least another hour of cross dressing.

If he was _lucky._


	10. Secret Garden

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 3. Oh _yeahhh_.

**Thank you **to _littleking9512, Do a Barrel Roll, Mirae-no-Sekai, EeveeRoseRunner, Infamousplot, yavin4 _and _Starowner _for the reviews! I may not reply (because my internet is very poor), but they all mean a lot, so thanks! :)

**A/N: **JOSHUA ANGST YAY (AND HEADCANON DOUBLE YAY). I mean, _lots _of it. He might be slightly OOC as well, but let's just say that I'm using his KH!Joshua self (all of his character development in 3D goes down to zilch in this, hurray). XD The idea just came into my head... and then refused to leave. I do apologize for the sheer... badness (?) of this chapter. There's no point to it, but I still wanted to update. Ah well. The whole chapter feels awkward... not my best, definitely. :/

I swear I will write about Rhyme soon. She needs love. And Beat. And Shiki. And the Reapers (they're mentioned!). And basically anyone that isn't Neku or Joshua. D:

On a random note; eh? There're barely any stories about the WEWY gang at all! I counted... three, maybe four, _including _my two? Come on guys!

**Explanations: **I imagine that Sora and the gang can just go up to Yen Sid and ask him to take them to the Realm of Sleep whenever they want to. Also, Lea and Kairi are practising for their own Mark of Mastery Exam (and spoilers much? Oops. XD).

Did I mention the angst? There is ANGST. FAIL ANGST (Josh is just too good to waste _not_ writing angst for...) and spoilers. For everything.

**Edit: **A huge thanks to _Infamousplot _for pointing out all of the mistakes! I fixed them all. I SWEAR, TACKED/TACKLED IS THE BANE OF MY EXISTENCE. DX

* * *

**.: of skinny behinds and dresses :.**

"_...Everyone has their own secret garden; their own world that no one else knows of."_

* * *

"...So. How come you guys aren't back home yet?"

Joshua shoved his hands into his trouser pockets with more force than necessary, refusing to meet the eyes of a curious Sora. He let out a hollow chuckle before continuing, "Why, Sora, I thought you would never ask. Only thought of it now?"

"_Okay," _Sora thought to himself, _"Neku mentioned that when Josh got annoyed with something, he tended to be sarcastic and rude. Hmm... sounds like Riku, but Riku's _always _like that... mostly."_

"You didn't go with Riku or Neku or any of the others. _Why_?"

"I wanted to be alone. Most people generally take that as a cue to _leave_, Sora," he tacked on as an afterthought, glancing over his shoulder with narrow eyes.

Much to his dismay, the brunet Keyblader ignored his harsh comment and flashed a wide grin, putting his hands behind his swaying head. "Nah! Besides, you know, standing up on top of one of the highest places in Traverse Town isn't really that good for 'hiding', is it? I spotted you from the Flick Rush arena!"

Joshua gave a round of applause that was dripping with sarcasm. "Well done. You want a medal?"

"Well, I _am _trying to get to the highest level in Flick Rush, so yeah! That'd be pretty cool." He left off the part about him trying to beat, of all people, _Kairi_, who somehow was a natural when it came to flicking cards up or down furiously. For Merlin's sake, she was practising for her own exam along with Lea! How did she even have _time _to play Flick Rush, much less hand Sora's butt to him on a plate served with Meow Wow sauce?

..._Eww._

Apparently, that hadn't been the right thing to say, as Joshua let out a low growl that sounded not unlike a cat hissing at its prey. "...Sora, _leave._ If you wish to discuss Flick Rush, do so with Rhyme. I am sure that she will overjoyed to find a fellow enthusiast to play a child's game designed for dynamic infants."

Oh, long words. Scary _scary_. "Nope."

"That _wasn't_ a request."

Sora plopped himself down on the Fifth District rooftops, and tilted his head out over the edge, watching the water flow underneath his feet. He felt tempted to jump in and splash about in it, but now probably wasn't the time. He didn't have a change of clothes, his Fire spells had all been (unwillingly) handed over to a grinning Lea, and he was not going to leave a sullen person to be depressing by themselves. "Just answer my question, and I'll leave."

"Oh," Joshua snapped, irritated, but he still sat down near Sora on the rooftop, kicking one leg over the other and looking out. "I wasn't aware that we were playing Twenty Questions. Do you want to start with my age, my sexuality, or my hair?"

Was he _always _this annoying to deal with? Sora let out a small huff. "Just answer me _one _question, _not _twenty, tell me what's the matter, and I'll leave."

Joshua crossed his arms, still refusing to meet Sora's eyes. "What if you can't help?"

Aha, so he didn't deny it! "Well... sometimes, the only thing that people need is a good listener. Even if I can't help, I'll do whatever I can, okay?"

"But-"

"-Besides, Neku would throw a huff if he sees _you _throwing one, and then Shiki would throw one, and then Beat would throw one... and, you know, you get it. You'll make a lot of people throw huffs."

A cruel smirk. "Oh, will I now? I wasn't aware that people cared about me."

Wow, he was in an _awful_ mood. This could be trickier than Riku's moods...

"Of _course _people care about you!" Sora said, upbeat. "Neku and the others all care for you, Riku cares for you, _I _care for you!"

"...If only if more people in Shibuya could be like you."

"Huh?"

The blond boy looked up to the starless sky, sighing. "...I've already told you about those creatures – the Heartless, wasn't it?" Sora nodded. "Destroyed our home, Shibuya, didn't I?"

"Yeah." Well, to be bluntly honest, it had been Mr. Hanekoma who had told Sora about it, and even then, he had been extremely vague about it. He always just assumed that what happened with the Destiny Islands was the same thing that had happened to Shibuya; the door was opened (somehow), and then all of the Heartless came pouring in droves. He didn't want to recite the rest, so he settled for listening to Joshua.

"Well, about a year before the Heartless..." At this, he looked down, his long, uncombed fringe covering violet eyes. "..._I _wanted to destroy Shibuya."

Wait, _what!? _Sora nearly leapt up in surprise, but instead he swerved his head to the smaller boy, ocean-blue eyes wide. "_You _wanted to destroy Shibuya? But, you love it, don't you? That's what everyone's told me!"

"I used to _detest_ Shibuya. In my eyes, it was the same, shallow people, always going through the same, shallow cycle. Each day was always the same. Nothing ever happened; everyone marched on through life with identical goals, identical lives, nothing to separate their values and beliefs from each other. But then, they all began to fight over petty things; over their favourite clothing, their favourite brands, music, hair... it was never anything _important_, like religions, or beliefs, or ideals."

Joshua turned to look Sora briefly in the eye before he snapped back down to the ground. His posture looked ashamed of himself; hunched over shoulders, legs crossed over, looking down at the ground. It was a look which Sora had _never _thought he would see in the boy. To see him this open... this, well, _weak,_ especially after all of the stories that Neku and the others had told him... it unnerved him.

"...About a year before today, or so, I decided to wager the fate of Shibuya on a simple game with my Conductor, Megumi. He was a good man, noble intentions... but he went all the wrong ways in achieving them. He wanted to save Shibuya, to prove to me that there was still potential inside it. I believed that Shibuya would begin to affect the other cities with its darkness, and it needed to be destroyed."

Megumi? Mr. Hanekoma had mentioned him once or twice whenever Sora was curious to know more about his new friends... although none of them seemed to hold the man in high regards. Still, Sora tuned out his thoughts and continued listening.

"We each had to pick a proxy to represent our goals. Megumi picked a man called Yodai; he was good, a hard-worker, dedicated to his job... a bit consumed with his love of food and lack of brain." Here, Joshua cut off to let out a somewhat-fond chuckle, but then his eyes darkened. "...And I chose Neku."

Sora felt his mouth go dry. He tried to swallow the heavy lump choking up his throat, but it wouldn't shift. "W-wait; sorry to interrupt, but... Shiki told me that you had to be... _dead_-" The thought of death made him shiver. How could some people talk about it so casually? "-To play the Reapers' Game, right? Neku's alive."

Sora _knew _what Joshua was going to say next, but it didn't make it any less painful. "_Was. _I killed Neku."

Okay, that last part he had _not _been expecting. "You WHAT!? _You _killed Neku!?"

"No, of course not," Joshua snapped. "I invited him around for a nice little tea party with all of my animal friends, and together we all danced around the table. _Yes_, I killed him. Twice. With a gun. Bang bang."

"B-but he's alive now, isn't he?"

At this, Joshua refused to answer, looking down. "Josh?"

"...That... that depends on your definition of 'alive'."

"Well..." Sora thumbed his hands together, then put them down beside him, looking down. The water suddenly didn't look so tempting. "They're all living, and breathing, and moving, right?"

At this, Joshua let out a dark snort. "You humans. Death is only the next stage to eternity. People don't just... vanish forever once they die. That's erasure. _That's _the definition of 'death' that you all cling to."

Sora frowned at the boy. "Well, _excuse _me for being normal."

"Sora." Sora smiled slightly at the return of Joshua's deadpan and sarcastic tone of voice. "You're anything _but _normal."

"Well, yeah, but I'd hardly call you guys normal either! It's not a bad thing, you know, to be different!"

"May I get back to the story?" And there went the good mood. Yay.

Sora rubbed his ear sheepishly. He _had _gotten a bit out of hand... "Aha, sorry!"

"Ultimately, after three weeks, I won the Game between myself and Megumi. But... I didn't want to destroy Shibuya. Not really. I wasn't sure at the time; I had seen Shibuya in a new light, because there _were _bright people in it, people who could carry hopes of a positive future. Shiki, Beat, Rhyme... and of course, Neku. So, I had one last shoot-off with Neku. I killed him again... he refused to shoot me."

Sora looked curiously at Joshua as he continued, still refusing to look at him. "That's when I decided that Shibuya _was _worth saving. So, I brought Neku and the others all back to life; I couldn't bring back the Reapers lost during those three weeks; Shibuya was very nearly destroyed by outside forces, never mind _me_, but... life's life." He unexpectedly let out a dark chuckle, one which made Sora's hairs stand on end uneasily. "Or should I say 'death is death'?"

"Anyway... about a year later, that's when the Heartless attacked. It was then that I realized why Shibuya had so many problems; it was because of _me. _In a way, I _am _Shibuya. The Composer of Shibuya – which is me – is, a way, a visual representation of it. Shibuya guided me, and I guided it. The darkness within it... was the darkness of my heart. And eventually, that darkness became the Heartless, and... you know the rest. You witnessed it happen to your own home."

Sora winced at the reminder, but nodded slowly. As much as it was horrible of him to think, it was kinda... _nice_, to have someone who understood the pain of having their home ripped away from them without a choice. He wouldn't wish the fate of the Destiny Islands on anyone he knew (not even Xehanort or the Ansem who had possessed Riku), but... having someone to talk to who could relate? It was pleasant. "Y-yeah... but don't blame yourself for the Heartless! You did everything you could, right? There's no need to beat yourself up over it."

Joshua abruptly stood up, much to Sora's confusion. "Huh? What's wrong?"

"I shouldn't have told you."

Sora stood up beside him, frowning. "Why not?"

"I barely _know _you, yet... I told you everything that happened. Not even _Neku_ has that privilege."

"But he will soon, right?"

"..."

Without any word, Joshua swept away and began to walk quickly. Sora reacted on an instinct he didn't even know he had, wrapping his fingers around the boy's wrist. He stood there, refusing to move as the blond froze under his touch.

A few tense seconds passed. Sora could mentally tick them off in his head. The air was thick with an emotion that Sora wasn't familiar to, and it felt strangely cold. He'd never done anything like this before; refusing to let someone go unless he got answers. It was... he couldn't explain it, but he _needed _answers. Joshua _still _hadn't answered him on why they couldn't all go home yet! That had been the whole reason that Sora had tracked him down in the first place.

"_Sora_," Joshua warned, voice dangerously low. "Let. Go."

The boy only tightened his grip on his wrist. "No chance."

"_Now_."

"_Look _at me."

Joshua somehow managed to stiffen some more. "_Excuse me?"_

Sora grit his teeth together. "L-look at me, and I'll let you go. I promise. Just... let me in! Tell me what you're thinking!"

"...Everyone has an unique secret garden; their own world that no one else knows of."

Where had _that _come from? "Huh? Why are you telling me this _now?_"

"Because-" Joshua suddenly thrust his wrist away, cast an icy glance at Sora which froze him solid, before looking away again. "I have a garden of my own, and I'd rather not open it up."

The boy left in a flash of brilliant light before Sora had any time to speak.


	11. Three Female Friends

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 3.

**Thank you **to _LittleKing9512, Do a Barrel Roll, Probableconfusion, Mirae-no-Sekai, Infamousplot _and _Ismyneil-SL _for the reviews! Also, _twenty _favourites!? Thank you all so much! :3

**A/N: **Yay, finally a chapter that's from Rhyme's point of view! Sorry for the long wait; the first week of school has been _awful_ for me, and I wrote a Joshua angst one-shot, and I'm getting addicted to 3D again, but meh, none of that's important.

By the way; Leah _isn't _an OC. If you can guess where I got the name from, you rock. Seriously. Also, inspired by the sheer amount of barrels you find around Traverse Town; I mean, in the game, they just fade away after you use them, but that's no fun. Who replaces them? Then again, it's set in the Realm of _Sleep_, so... meh. Sense goes out of the window? Either way, the Joshua/Shiki interaction in here was far more fun to write than I thought it would be.

BUT THAT'S ENOUGH. So here's a short break from the ANGST, which will return soon. Hope you all enjoy! :)

* * *

**.: of skinny behinds and dresses:.**

"_Leah here is quite hormonal, and yeah, she's grumpy and depressing, so just ignore her."_

* * *

Rhyme may not have had too many memories to go off by, but she was pretty sure that random old men didn't come marching up to pre-teens and shove broomsticks into their hands.

So the blue-eyed blonde stared down at the small broomstick in her hand. It looked as if it had been found in a dusty corner, full of bristled edges and the metal handle had long since rusted. It felt as if it would rot away in her hands.

She looked up at the small man in front of her, eyes wide. She had only been heading to the Flick Rush arena to see if Beat was there; he vanished with Neku without a word, and Beat's mobile phone was always either off or broken. It was never on.

So... _why _did she have a broomstick, again? Was she going to be like one of those wizards in those books that suddenly learnt how to fly, whizzing around and catching tiny golden balls with angelic wings, along the roaring of the eager crowds?

...Most likely not.

"Excuse me, sir? I think you may have mistaken me for-"

She was cut off by a rude snort. "-I've seen you and your female friends wandering around the town at night."

Rhyme was about to point out two things – that it was _always _night time in Traverse Town, and that she only had _one _female friend, Shiki – but he continued onwards vigorously. "You go about smashing up all of those barrels, and don't even bother cleaning them up afterwards!"

"Sir-"

"-_Don't you call me sir_," he hissed and leant in so close to her face that his crooked nose was touching Rhyme's button one. She leaned back when spit flew from his raging mouth and landed on her cheek. "Clean up that mess _right now!_"

"But, s-" She quickly cut herself off. "-Um, we need those barrels. You see, the monsters that plaque Traverse Town, we-"

"-_You _bought them here!" the man hissed again, waving about a wooden cane in his hand. Rhyme took another step back, this time in fear of the stick accidentally smacking her. "As soon as you _hooligans _arrived, all of this graffiti and monsters and what-have-you appeared! I've already had to deal with my world ending; the last thing I need is to break my spine on a barrel that was broken because of _you!_ I want to die on _my _home, not on some random street corner!"

Rhyme was now backed up against the wall with the amount of stick waving that the man was doing, but she furrowed her eyebrows together, thinking. Didn't the barrel pieces vanish as soon as they used them? Besides, herself and Shiki was _awful _at using Flowmotion; Rhyme always tripped on her too-large shoes, and Shiki refused to do out of decency privacy for the area hidden by her skirt. Also, heels generally weren't excellent for fighting in. If it wasn't for the barrels, well, they would have struggled greatly with defeating the Nightmares.

That was when she noticed two more sets of broomsticks in the man's other hand. He noticed her gaze, frosty eyes narrowing some more. "Shoo, and find those two friends of yours!"

"What two-"

"-_Are you _stupid!? The two girls!"

..._What _two girls? "I'm sorry, sir, but-"

"_-DON'T CALL ME SIR!"_

"_Rhyme_?" Shiki's concerned voice chimed from behind. "Are you alright?"

The blonde Player turned around, her lips stretching into a smile as she saw Shiki and Joshua approach her, numerous shopping bags on their arms. They must have went off on another one of their shopping trips; Joshua was the only one in the group who took even a _faint _interest in fashion, but even a tiny amount was enough for Shiki, especially given that Neku and Beat seemed to have a phobia of fashion.

Joshua spoke up. "Rhyme, if you're having difficulties with any members of the public, then-"

The old man suddenly stormed past her with far more energy than his age suggested, and abruptly shoved the broomsticks into their hands. Shiki sneezed at the sharp intake of dust, while Joshua stared blankly at the cleaning equipment, for once at a lost of words.

"..._Why _did you-"

"-_You _two have been smashing up all of the barrels as well! All of the females seem to be doing it, I _swear!_"

Shiki tried to hold in her giggles as Joshua's violet eyes grew wide. "_Excuse _me?"

The man leered in closer to Joshua, seeming to scan the blond boy tightly. His eyes seemed to linger on the boy's chest. "Hmm... you have quite a flat chest-"

"-_What._"

"-And an utter lack of manners," he muttered darkly, scrunching his eyes up. "But you're still a pretty feminine woman."

"_What."_

"And also have a lack of a wide vocabulary – I bet you don't even know what that word _means_, do you, lassie?"

Joshua finally seemed to recover from being called a girl, narrowing his eyes. "For your information-"

"-_Leah _here," Shiki interrupted cheerfully as she yanked not-too-gently on the Composer's arm. "Is quite hormonal, and yeah, she's grumpy and depressing, so just ignore her. Do you need anything, sir?"

Rhyme felt very sorry for Shiki at that moment.

Ignoring Joshua's murderous glare, the man shoved the broomstick in Shiki's hands so forcefully that she almost fell over the small ledge, nearly taking Joshua with her. "_Whoa! _What the-"

"-_DO. NOT. CALL. ME. SIR!"_

"I-I'm sorry!" Shiki squeaked out apologetically. "I-"

"-I need _you three _to clean out the back streets and the Third District. I'll reward you."

Rhyme tilted her head curiously, finally deciding to join in. As amusing as it was to watch the three of them, if the clenched phone in Joshua's hand was any indication, then he was ready to attack soon. He didn't really know manners all-too-well.

Shiki's brown eyes brightened. "Oh, really? What with?"

"...Things," he answered mystically. He then waved them off dismissively, already beginning to shuffle back towards a small house in the corner of the alleyway. "Come back in three hours."

Shiki exploded out into full giggles as soon as the man was out of sight, pointing madly at Joshua. "H-he called you a _girl!_"

"I am aware of that."

"A-And he _chatted _you up!"

At this, both of the blond-haired teenagers stared blankly at Shiki. Rhyme sighed. "Um, Shiki, just _how, _exactly, did he chat Joshua up?"

She shrugged, still struggling to keep her laughter under control. "Well, um, he _did _stare at his '_flat' _chest."

"I am going to kill you all."

Shiki gently removed the broomstick from Joshua's fisted hands. "Shush, it's alright, he doesn't mean anything by it, and no offense, but with that hair? You'd be mistaken for a girl with _no _trouble."

"And you giggle," Rhyme interjected.

Shiki nodded, and then fixed her large brown hat, since it was threatening to fall off. "Yeah, you _giggle._ Like a _boss_."

"Or a girl."

"Or a girl."

Crossing his arms, Joshua did his best to frown at the two, but it only came off as an adorable pout, like he was a spoilt child denied his chance to go on the swings. "Are we _seriously _going to go along with this foolish idea? I mean, cleaning out... whatever it is we're cleaning." He waved his hand about aimlessly, having long since abandoned his own broomstick on the ground.

"The barrels," Rhyme explained politely. The two turned to look at her. "He's fed up because of the amount of broken barrels there are lying about, so he asked-" Well, more like _demanded_. "-Me if I could get my female friends to help me clean up the mess."

Shiki giggled. "He called you a _girl_~"

"Bravo. I never would have guessed."

Rhyme clapped her hands together behind her back and leant forward. "Come on! It'll be fun, and besides, we _did _leave quite the mess behind us. Haste makes waste, and in this case, _literally_."

"Oh," Joshua drawled. "How _fun_. Wasting away our existence cleaning up pieces of exterior furnishing. The best fun I have _ever _had."

Shiki pushed him light-heartedly. "Oh, hush. It beats looking up my skirt."

"For the _final _time, I did _not_-"

"-_Sure_," Shiki said dryly. "Honestly, I _know _you have a thing for Neku, and you _know _that I fully support whoever you end up in a relationship with, because that's what friends do, so shut up and stop pretending to be bi. You're gay. Admit it."

"I am _not _gay!"

"Neku turned you gay."

"Neku did _not _turn me gay!"

"Well, at the very least, you're bisexual."

"_Shiki Misaki._"

Rhyme looked between the two of them nervously. "Um... should I ask what happened?"

Shiki shrugged. "Well, really, it was just confirming that Josh has a thing for Neku. Which we all already knew, so no, I wouldn't ask."

Joshua gave a long suffering sigh. "I _do not-_"

Rhyme couldn't help herself. "Denial is the first step!"

Joshua's glare was powerful enough to break the many lights dotting Traverse Town, but Shiki only laughed it off and grabbed her broomstick. "Now, come on! We got cleaning to do!"

"I hate you all."

"Your inventive comeback is inventive."

"I don't see you coming back with any."

"That's because I hammer you enough to not need any."

Rhyme giggled as she followed the two bickering teenagers through the large doors.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.


	12. Boys Will Be Boys

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 3.

Thank you to _zombiecupcake'eats-you, ismyneli-SL, Infamousplot, Do a Barrel Roll, LittleKing9512, PMiller1, Nix-the-Neko, Starowner, Amulet Misty _and _anon _for the lovely reviews.

I AM UNDESERVING.

**A/N: **...I seriously am overwhelmed by the support for this fic. Guys. Guys. Are you okay.

_Thirty one favourites and thirty seven alerts!?_

ABALOWWMA WOW WOW WOW.

So I shall award you with a crappy Neku/Shiki drabble.

Which is really short.

Also is the first vaguely-romantic thing I have ever written.

And Joshua barely featu-

-OH SO NOW YOU'RE INTERESTED.

**.: of skinny behinds and dresses :.**

"_You're sooo cute."_

Nothing much had happened in Traverse Town in the last few months, Neku realized as he and Shiki walked around a large store located in the Fourth District, sea salt ice-creams in hand. Sure, there were still Nightmares lurking about, and occasionally they would get missions, but more often than not, the missions were impossibly easy to complete. Not that he was complaining or anything, but for goodness sake, the last mission had been to _play Flick Rush! _Rhyme had completed it for the rest of them without even knowing.

It only added to the looming sense that something big was going to happen soon.

"Hmm. Neku?"

He looked up at Shiki at the sound of his name. "Yeah?"

She held up a dark blue turtle-neck shirt next to her, smiling. "How would this look? I need to get a change of clothes soon; winter's coming up soon, and you know that I'll freeze if I carry on like this."

"Shiki, I've got _plenty _of jackets at the hotel. Just borrow one." They didn't need to waste any more munny then the limited amount they had; the mission before the last one had been to make Pegaso the most popular in Traverse Town, and they'd spent all of the munny, because _of course_, Pegaso was _by far _the most expensive brand of them all_. _What kind of idiot spent _ten thousand munny on a scarf?_

Shiki pouted. "Yeah, but they'd be too small for me-" _How? _"-And, um... I kinda want to look fashionable."

"...Are you saying that I have bad taste in clothes?" Well that was rude.

"You like Jupiter of the Monkey," she teased, "'Nuff said." She giggled at Neku's frown. "Heh, it's true!"

"The only people that are gonna see you are me, Beat, Josh and Rhyme. The old geezers wouldn't know fashion if you smacked them in the face with it."

"Neku, that's mean!" She put her hands on her hips, smiling. "At least they know what _clothes_ are."

"Um, remember that guy we met y-"

"-_Don't mention him_," Shiki hissed. "_Don't._"

"He was naked. And _fat." _How was that even legal? Scratch that; were there even any _laws _in Traverse Town? Or did everyone just do whatever they wanted to do? Then again, it _was _mostly old people, so they probably spent all day inside knitting cardigans or something. Not to be ageist or anything.

"Oh! I thought you were referring to _him!" _Shiki hissed. "The nude guy had better fashion sense then _some _of the people you see around here. Omigosh! There was this guy wearing a _hot pink shirt _with _red leggings _the other day! He looked _so _bad!"

Neku took a lick of his melting ice-cream. He didn't have a clue on fashion; wear whatever you wanted to wear, as long as it was clothes. That was what he lived by. Unfortunately, knowing Shiki for so long had unconsciously converted him into bit of a fashion geek as well. "Man, that's _bad_." He shook his head. "Hey. Just go and buy whatever you want. I'll lean you some of my munny if you don't have enough."

"_Really?_"

He smirked a little. "_Only _if you pay me back. And I charge interest."

"Oh, but I'm your partner! I'll buy you some new pins after!"

That got him. The pins that he had at the moment were basic things; barely enough to scratch the Nightmares nowadays (they seemed to get ten times stronger after Sora left). He had to rely heavily on Flowmotion, and honestly, that tired him out quickly. But he was _not _being useless, damn it! "...Okay."

"Hmm... this shirt's a Natural Puppy one." Shiki flipped her phone open. "The top brand at the moment is Tigre Punks; ugh, I'll need to talk to Beat about that."

"I thought that the brands only affected the attack of my pins?"

"Well, yeah, but by wearing different stuff into battle, we boost the rankings of that brand up. You use mostly Jupiter pins, right? Murasame and Yoshimitsu and all of that."

Neku nodded. "So? I use the force rounds a lot, too. It's useful for when I need to stay away, _especially _from the deer Nightmares."

"Oh, they're such a pain!" Shiki agreed. She flipped her pink phone shut. "So... force rounds tend to be Natural Puppy based. Just lemme buy this shirt, and then we'll drop at the hotel to get your stuff. Is that okay?" Without warning, she flung her ice-cream into the trash can nearby. Neku stared at it before hurrying on to meet with his friend. He could have finished it for her! His was already long finished, and he was carving the salty taste.

"I thought we were going to get some pins?" he asked, confused. Shiki wasn't one for forgetting stuff easily.

"Well, yeah; but you've got Nenekiri at the moment. We'll need to battle and evolve it into a Kanesada pin."

"All of this crap goes over my head," the boy muttered, slouching into his shirt collar deeper. Shiki laughed and gently took his wrist, guiding him over to the counter.

"You'll get the hang of it one day!"

"I don't _want _to get the hang of it!"

Shiki handed the shirt over and smiled warmly at the store clerk. She dug into her wallet, looking for munny. "Don't you find it strange?" she asked suddenly.

"Find _what _strange?"

"Because we're not in Shibuya, but we've still got all of the brands here." Her face fell. "Well, apart from Gatito, but..."

Mr. H was still missing. It wasn't that noticable at first; Neku, at first, just believed that he would show up any day, because hey, he was CAT, and CAT doesn't pull crap like that. But it had been nearly a year now... and still no sign. Neku nodded, not wanting to talk about him. "Yeah. Let's head back and grab my stuff. What if a mission shows up before then?"

"Well, depends on what the time limit is, right? If we have long enough, we'll drop by to the hotel. It's only a five minute run from here, anyway."

"Yeah, _run._"

"So?" She shrugged. "We ran around Shibuya the whole time, right?"

"Yeah, but I'm sure that we can _walk._ I feel like I'm being a noisy neighbour if I run."

Much to his surprise, Shiki laughed. Loudly. "Pff!" She took the small pink bag from the man, thanking him for his services, and that yes, she _would _be coming back soon, before they headed out. The sky of Traverse Town was as dark as ever, no light save for the dotted stars shining overhead. It was impossible to tell what time it was, or if it was even day or night. "Oh, _Neku."_

"W-what?"

She wrapped her frosty arm around his, smiling up at him. "_Boys. _Now, c'mon. We've got places to be."

"What do you mean, _boys?_"

"You and Beat and Josh try and act all tough, but it _really doesn't work._"

"I'm not acting!"

She poked his nose with her free hand, grinning. "You're _sooo cute."_

He shooed her hand anyway, smiling despite the protest in his voice. "No I'm not!"

"And dorky."

_How many times did she_- "Look, I am _not _dorky. What does that even _mean?_"

Shiki sighed dramatically. "_Boys _will be _boys."_

"Shiki!"

He smiled whenever her hand dropped down to wrap around his and gave a gentle squeeze. He gave her one back, lancing their fingers together with a wider smile. She smiled back.

It didn't matter how long they were here for. As long as he had his friends, that was all that mattered.


End file.
